neshaminy

Neshaminy thanks our sponsors and retail partners!

Neshaminy is thankful for the support of our local sponsors and retail partners! Without them, Neshaminy wouldn’t be able to continue sharing great Bucks County history and art. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor or retail partner, please contact us.

Sponsor

Chris Bauer, author of COBALT

Available February 2024 from Severn River Publishing

Retail Partners

Doylestown Bookshop, Doylestown, PA

Lahaska Bookshop, Peddler’s Village, Lahaska, PA

Exhibit B Gallery, Souderton, PA

Commonplace Reader, Yardly, PA

Farley’s Bookshop, New Hope, PA

Inaugural Abramson Art & Artist Lecture: No ‘Destitute Scribbler’: Henry C. Mercer’s Adventure in Publishing

Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at 7:00 pm

Doylestown Historical Society, 56 S. Main Street Doylestown PA 18901 

The Doylestown Historical Society and Neshaminy: The Bucks County Historical and Literary Journal are proud to present the inaugural lecture in its Abramson Art & Artist series: No ‘Destitute Scribbler’: Henry C. Mercer’s Adventure in Publishing.

Drawing upon archival documents from the Mercer Museum, Professor Tom Sparrow will illuminate Henry Mercer’s foray into the world of fiction, his use of local Doylestown landmarks including Fonthill Castle and Doyle’s Tavern, and why his only collection of ghost stories November Night Tales, though hailed as comparable to Edgar Allen Poe and Ambrose Bierce, ultimately fell into obscurity.

Local writer Daniel Dorian will also speak on censorship and book banning, placing recent developments in Bucks County and across the country in historical context.

Tickets can be purchased in advance for $10 here or by calling the Doylestown Historical Society or $15 at the door.

The latest edition of Neshaminy featuring Professor Sparrow’s work, Dorian’s essay and Mercer’s ghost story “Castle Valley” involving the discovery of a mysterious crystal that seems to have unmitigated supernatural powers will be available for purchase at special event-only pricing.

The Abramson Art & Artist Series is a lecture series named in honor of the first publisher of Neshaminy and former President of the Doylestown Historical Society, Stuart Abramson. Neshaminy: The Bucks County Historical and Literary Journal is a co-publication of the Doylestown Historical Society and the Bucks County Writers Workshop. More information at neshaminyjournal.org and doylestownhistorical.org.

Raised in the Poconos Mountains, Professor Tom Sparrow currently teaches in the Department of Philosophy at Slippery Rock University. His previously published work includes many books and articles of academic philosophy, most recently The Alphonso Lingis Reader (University of Minnesota Press, 2018) and True Detective and Philosophy: A Deeper Kind of Darkness (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017). Inspired by a visit to Henry C. Mercer’s Fonthill, he has expanded his research to include the study of Gothic literature and the antiquarian ghost story.

Daniel Dorian was born in Paris in 1937. In 1962, as an actor he performed for the Renaud-Barrault Theater Company before immigrating to America. In New York, he attended Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio, DJed a radio Hit Parade show for Radio Luxembourg, and performed a French poetry recital in U.S. universities. In the 1960s, he covered America for two major European outfits as a foreign correspondent. In the ’70s, he became PR for Air France; in 1979, he headed Sygma-USA, one of the top photo-news agencies in the world. In the ’80s he started his own New York-based film production company.

DONAHUE NAMED NESHAMINY MANAGING EDITOR

Neshaminy, the Bucks County Historical and Literary Journal, has elevated William J. Donahue to the post of Managing Editor, replacing David Updike, who will remain on the editorial staff. Executive Editor Don Swaim also announced that Melissa Sullivan is joining the staff as editor.
Donahue is a 10-year member of the Bucks County Writers Workshop with more than 20 years of experience as an editor, writer, and journalist. He is currently editor of the monthly lifestyle magazines Suburban Life and Philadelphia Life. Donahue’s print and on-camera reporting has earned him nearly a dozen regional and national awards for excellence in business journalism. His published works include the novel Burn, Beautiful Soul and three short-story collections: Too Much Poison, Filthy Beast, and Brain Cradle.
Sullivan is a writer, journalist, attorney, and a 2019 Pushcart Prize nominee. Her work has appeared in Hippocampus Magazine, Nightingale & Sparrow, Sum Journal and elsewhere<, and her short story “Last Run” placed second in the 2019 Bucks County Short-Fiction Contest. Most recently, her fiction was published in the locally-produced anthology Jersey Devil.
Also on the editorial team is Bill Stieg, former editor of Men’s Health magazine. David Updike, Director of Publications of the Barnes Foundation, is former publications editor of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Rounding out the staff is well-known Bucks County illustrator Pat Achilles, whose art has appeared in The New Yorker and in countless books and magazines, and veteran graphic designer John Errichetti of Tinhouse Design.

BUCKS COUNTY BOOK FESTIVALBACK AS VIRTUAL EVENT FOR 2020

In 2018 and 2019, the Bucks County Book Festival was a successful event, running two years in a row, and both the Bucks County Writers Workshop and the Doylestown Historical Society had booths. But after the pandemic hit, in late September 2020 the fest went virtual, which did not allow the DHS and the BCWW any sort of presence.

BUCKS COUNTY HERALD REVIEW OF NESHAMINY'S INAUGURAL ISSUE

“The journal is the work of the Bucks County Writers Workshop and published by the Doylestown Historical Society. It’s named for the waterway that wends its way from north to south in the long county, ending at the Delaware River near Bristol.It’s history and fiction wrapped around history, tidbits that draw from legend and news, back to the Native American settlers, the Lenni Lenape, and into William Penn’s time through the Revolution and a recent war. It draws on the lives of artists and writers—there’s so much to be said.”
–by Bridget Wingert, publisher, Bucks County Herald.

Read the full review of Neshaminy’s inaugural issue in: the Bucks County Herald, Oct. 17, 2019 — HERE

YouTube Video Of Neshaminy’s Launch On Aug. 1, 2019.

Neshaminy was launched on August 1, 2019, with the announcement of the prize winners in the journal’s fist literary contest. The event was recorded by the DHS’s Tom Brunt and can be seen in full on
YouTube

PBS39

Reporter Hayden Mitman’s PBS39 News Report on Neshaminy’s Launch aired Aug. 2, 2019)

To see it in full, click HERE

Where To Buy Neshaminy

Neshaminy‘s second issue Fall/Winter 2020.  Available from: Amazon as well as at Bucks County, PA, area bookstores.

Neshaminy‘s inaugural issue published in October 2019. Available from: Amazon as well as at Bucks County, PA, area bookstores.

Pat Achilles

An artist’s view of the famed Neshaminy Creek — with a Lenape Indian by the water.

Check Pat’s home page at: Achilles Portfolio

Ron Moran, photographer extraordinaire

Ron Moran 1950-2020.
Ron, of Fairless Hills, PA, died March 1, 2020, at the age of 69. Born in Philadelphia, he was a veteran of the Army National Guard, a tour bus driver for Starr Tours, and a highly talented photographer who volunteered his talents to the Doylestown Historical Society as the staff photographer. His multitudes of photos of the Neshaminy Creek are expected to grace the journal’s cover for as long as there is a journal.
Check Ron’s page on Facebook

Ron was Neshaminy‘s staff photographer

2019 NESHAMINY LITERARY CONTEST WINNERS

The awards, totalling $500 in cash prizes, were announced on August 1, 2019, by Nathan Halter, a member of the journal’s nine-member advisory panel.

Winning Entries
1) World Famous Bucks County Casino — Bill O’Toole
2) Oscar Hammerstein, Highland Farm, and the Sound of Music — Natalie Dyen
3) Behind the Rebellion — David Jarret

Honorable Mentions
4) December Sunday 1941 — Don Swaim
5) (tie) The Battle of Paunacussing Creek — David Jarret
5) (tie) The Lenape Stone — Don Swaim
6) (tie) Cudjo’s Relegation — Wil Kirk
6) (tie) One April Day — Linda Wisniewski

Article in the Bucks County Herald. READ HERE